Twin City Teens: A Workforce to Be Reckoned With

by Tim O’Neill~

Teenage workers within the Twin Cities metro area accounted for nearly half (48.5%) of all teenage workers in the state. Not surprisingly, teens are most likely to work in the accommodation, food services and retail trade industries; about two-thirds of jobs held by teenagers.

However, data also show that teens find jobs in other industries, such as child day care services, and nursing and residential care facilities. Personal care, pet care, civic and social organizations, repair and maintenance, amusement parks, golf courses, sports teams and local government services are also possibilities.

“Prospects for teenagers finding jobs this summer are better than in recent years, primarily because of an improving economy and tighter labor market,” said Oriane Casale of DEED’s Labor Market Information Office. “With strong employment growth in both the retail and the accommodation and food service sectors in March, this might be a great summer for teens in Minnesota to get some work experience and earn their first paychecks.”

The labor force participation rate for teens in the Twin Cities metro area was slightly lower than the state, where nearly half of the people (47.1%) aged 16-19 in the Twin Cities were in the labor force over the last 5 years. That’s an estimated 72,670 teenage workers, which was about 4.4% of the total metro area labor force.

Among that lot, just over 16,770 teens were considered unemployed and actively seeking work. That means teens in the Twin Cities metro area had an unemployment rate of 23.1% in 2013; that’s three times higher than the unemployment rate for the total population. The Twin Cities metro area also held over half of the total unemployed teens in the entire state of Minnesota.

While these rates may seem high in comparison to other regions, the state’s 11.3% unemployment rate for teens was the sixth lowest nationally in 2014. Only Montana, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska had lower unemployment rates for that age group. It’s a definite improvement from teen jobless rates that surged to more than 20% during the recession.